A detector mat of this kind is known in which the optical fiber is directly interposed between the two main sheets, one of which provides a furrow for receiving the optical fiber, for the purpose of guiding the fiber along the path which it is to follow.
Such a structure is difficult to implement and leads to a manufacturing cost that is not cheap.
In addition, the known detector mat is designed so that the optical fiber never comes into contact with sharp-edged elements, and thus suffers deformation only by being curved with a large radius of curvature (greater by several order of magnitudes than the diameter of the fiber) and also never suffers from microcurvature on such sharp edges, which could damage the integrity of the optical fiber. Unfortunately, although the fiber is thus protected from localized mechanical damage that could shorten its life, this is achieved at the cost of reducing its sensitivity because of the absence of any microcurvatures that could add their contribution to generating variations in light flux. That detector mat therefore provides sensitivity which is poor, and insufficient for reliably detecting small pressure forces.